A Chamber Member's Story

Pamela Green-Jackson responded to a family tragedy by creating an after-school program to keep youngsters healthy and fit.

Pamela Green-Jackson knows firsthand the potentially life-threatening effects of obesity. In February 2004, her only brother, Bernard, 43, died from complications of obesity-related illnesses.

Determined to help save youngsters from the epidemic of obesity, Jackson left her job in marketing and advertising at the Albany (Ga.) Herald newspaper in December 2004 to create the Youth Becoming Healthy (YBH) project. "When I told people what I wanted to do, I didn't realize there would be so many personal stories, either their own or someone else's in their family," Jackson says.

YBH is a nonprofit project designed to counteract childhood obesity by encouraging physical activity and good nutrition. In cooperation with schools, community partners, and the private sector, YBH provides a safe, consistent place to exercise in an after-school setting by taking abandoned classrooms and turning them into fitness centers. Students work out for free under the supervision of trainers and volunteers or participate in organized exercise classes and events. 

YBH has opened four middle school fitness centers in Dougherty County, Georgia. The program has 148 active participants. Jackson relies on her professional background to connect with sponsors and develops the fitness centers' curriculum through consultations with YBH's board of directors, which is made up of pediatricians, educators, nutritionists, school nurses, and community leaders.

Jackson launched YBH with $30,000 from Merck & Co. and Palmyra Medical Centers. Other sponsors quickly came on board, including Sears, which, along with a local sporting goods store, provides Jackson with discounts on equipment to offset the $10,000 to $15,000 startup cost for each center.

To encourage student participation, YBH offers a number of incentives, which Jackson calls "rewarding activity with activity." YBH gives away bikes, skates, and passes to the bowling alley or skating rink. Jackson also asks local pediatricians to recommend the YBH program to their at-risk patients.

Transportation is a major obstacle to student participation, especially for kids with working parents. The fitness centers run Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m., long after the last school bus leaves. Jackson says that YBH wants to buy a van or bus to shuttle participating students home.

Jackson plans to launch the YBH project in the remaining two county middle schools later this year and eventually expand the program across Georgia and the United States.

To share a Success InSight of your own, e-mail Greg Galdabini at ggaldabi@uschamber.com, phone 202-463-5563, or fax to 202-463-5707.